We've scheduled to shoot our short on the 30th of november and the 2nd of november. Our film is set during evening/night time so we need it to be dark, luckily sunset is at around 4pm so we can film some time after this so that we get the low key lighting and darkness which is a common convention in horror films.
Preparations
This is a rough outline of the storyline and some of the key shots and framing of said shots that we'll aim to adhere to. Some of the scenes can be mixed about, when editing, depending on how it looks when we film. And some of the shots will be changed when filming as well since we may find that something else looks better or the lighting isn't sufficient. Having discussed our thoughts for our film and coming up with a final idea, we need to get an understanding of what sort of locations we want to include in our short film, so we can choose our locations appropriately. By researching it also helps us identify the limitations we may have when finding locations as we may not be able to find exactly what we want. ![]() The narrative is set in an old fashioned victorian house, preferably in an isolated location, to make the house seem more mysterious and creepy. We want the old fashioned house to fit with the narrative, as the parents are of an older age, and are quite dated considering the short film is set in present time, which provides a reasoning behind their strange manner. A limitation we may have with finding a location fitting to this image is being able to find a house which is appears as old fashioned, likewise it would be hard to find one in an isolated location which would be available to use. ![]() An alterative to an isolated location, would be down a dark street, again to add to the mystery and contribute to the fear of the unknown, with dark alleys. We want the house to be filmed in the dark as it fits with narrative as the girl is babysitting in the evening. Likewise dark settings contribute to the typical codes and conventions found within the horror genre. ![]() One of the main locations within the house is going to be the baby's room. Ideally we would want the room to be old fashioned like the house with an old baby's crib for the doll to be sleeping in. However we need to consider the limitations of finding a location to fit our ideas as it would be hard to find the appropriate miss-en-scene. Our short horror film, yet to be entitled, centres a teenage girl attending a house to babysit a young child, however this no ordinary baby... Below, I have written a detailed synopsis of the short film in it's entirety. We thought this important as our choices and ideas regarding the narrative have changed several times, and now this is our definitive story.
A regular, naive teenage girl named Rose, around the age of 17, checks her voice mail to hear an eery woman's voice. The voice belongs to a mother, requesting Rose to babysit for her that night. The mother states that she is a friend of Rose's parents and has been told of her baby sitting duties. The mother asks Rose to arrive at 9pm and that her and her husband shall leave a key under the doormat for her. 'Mercy-Violet', the baby, will already be asleep so the mother informs Rose not to disturb her under any circumstances. Rose arrives at the strange house, confused as to why the parents would leave their baby unattended before their babysitter, whom they have never met, arrives. As she enters the house she is immediately startled as she trips on a rattle. She walks around the house, slightly bewildered at the weird interior, however goes to sit on the sofa and watch television. The television will only show a disturbing children's program, so she turns it off again and chooses a dusty book from the bookshelf. She begins reading the book and falls asleep, however is woken to the sound of crawling. Worried that the child has awoken, she gets up and rushes upstairs to check on it. Peering into it's room, she finds the child is not in it's bed; instead there is just a doll lying in it's place. Confused, Rose picks up the doll and calls out 'Mercy? Mercy?', believing the child to have escaped from her bed leaving her doll behind. Starting to panic more as the child cannot be found, Rose heads towards the phone to try and ring the parents in worry, however as she is walking down the stairs she notices something disturbing that she missed before when she rushed upstairs. There are several frames of 'family photos' - in which there is the mother, the father... and the doll that Rose is holding. No sign of an actual baby. In shock, Rose drops/throws the doll and jumps backwards in fear. Blood starts to appear around the baby and it turns its head to look at Rose. She screams and runs to grab her belongings to try and escape, however it is at that exact moment that the clock strikes midnight and the parents arrive home. When deciding on the target audience that we are creating our short film for and the type of people it is being aimed at, an important factor that comes into consideration is the age specification rating. In the UK, this is know as BBFC, standing for the British Board of Film Classification. It is a non-governmental organization purely founded by the film industry. It is responsible for the censorship of films in cinemas and sold in shops in the UK. ![]() When deciding which category our film fit most in to we had to consider three things: 1. What kind of people will enjoy the narrative ideas we have had so far 2. What type of protagonist are we looking at - it would be suitable to aim our film at an audience of similar age to the protagonist so they can identify with them 3. What themes will we have, eg violence, that could determine which age rating it can and cannot fit in to The ideas we have had so far towards the kind of narrative and plot line we want seem most suitable for teenage to young adult, perhaps ranging 13 year olds to 25 year olds. The protagonist we were considering creating would be around 17 years old, therefore this will be the age group most likely to identify with her. Looking at the themes we want to incorporate, the three ratings our film should categorise in to could be 12A, 12 and 15. 12A/12 Category Criteria: -Mature themes treated suitably for young teenagers -Rare and justified swearing -Nudity but brief and discreet sexual content, sex may be implied -Brief violence without much detail, no blood, injury or weapon emphasis -Occasional gore -Brief 'soft' drug references ![]() 15 Category Criteria: -Frequent use of strong language is allowed, however continued use and sexual abuse is not -No constraints on nudity in a non sexual or educational context -Sexual activity is allowed but without heavy detail, responsible depiction of casual sex and occasional strong verbal references to sex -Strong violence allowed however not heavy detail on infliction of pain or injuries, sexual violence must be brief -No emphasis on easily accessible weapons eg knives -Drug taking is allowed however clear instructive detail is not When initially comparing the two age ratings we thought our film could be considered in either, however looking in more detail we have realised our film does not quite fulfil enough of the age 15 criteria. The 12/12a rating however is much more fitting. The themes we may incorporate that cause the rating to be 12/12a are brief swearing, one element of blood/gore, slight violence and the overall storyline being too mature to be rated the age category below (PG).
Our film would be rated as a 12 by the BBFC, and we think the most likely audience age range we are targeting it towards is 16-25 year olds. |
AuthorsMolly Broad Archives
February 2016
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